the republicans are trying to hold us all hostage, and offering a by organize us completedly unrational choices but saying we'll let the full faith and credit of the united states go down and we're in the going to pay our bills with disastrous consequences which they ought to know is real. this is not rumor or theory. it's arithmetic, that maybe the social security checks won't go out and the deficit will certainly be increased, or you pass this -- this plan that is certain to force cuts in medicare and social security without touching a hair on the head of any billionaire. >> what's wrong with a balanced budget amendment to the constitution because clearly democrats and republicans, they have failed over these many years to balance the federal budget? >> well, first of all, that's just not true. it's only a little over ten years ago that president clinton handed george bush not only a balanced budget but a surplus in the -- in the budget, and he managed to -- to squander that, and so memories are very, very short. democrats have never rejected sitting down at the table to deal with the